General English Level 4 V 3
UNIT 03 Dreams and plans TOPIC 04 I was going to
LANGUAGE FOCUS 04 Adverbial clauses of reason and purpose
In this activity you will revise adverbial clauses of reason and purpose.

1. Adverbial clauses of purpose

Claudia writes:
I phoned her so that we could arrange a new date but she'd already re-booked her ticket.

"so that we could arrange a new date" is an adverbial clause of purpose , it tells us the purpose or why Claudia phoned her mother.

Adverbial clauses of purpose can start with the conjunctions in order to, so, so as to, so that . We use in order to and so as to in more formal situations.

In everyday conversation we usually use to instead of in order to .
For example, "I phoned her to ask about her trip" instead of "I phoned her in order to ask about her trip."

Adverbial clauses with so , and so that usually have can, will or may if the main clause is in the present tense, and could, would or might if the main clause is in the past.

Find out more about adverbial clauses of purpose.

Examples

1 Read the examples.
2 Listen to the examples.
3 Practise saying each example. Use the Pause button.
In order to see the stage, I moved a bit closer.
I took the vitamins so as to avoid getting sick.
I showed her the way so that she could get home.

2. Adverbial clauses of reason

Claudia writes:
I wanted to contact you because I was going to come up but, unfortunately, I won't be able to make it.

"because I was going to come up" is an adverbial clause of reason , it explains why Claudia wanted to contact Gina. Adverbial clauses of reason can start with the conjunction as, since, because .

Find out more about adverbial clauses of reason.

Examples

1 Read the examples.
2 Listen to the examples.
3 Practise saying each example. Use the Pause button.
I laughed because she said something funny.
Since she was so kind, I bought her some flowers.
I studied Chinese as I wanted to visit Beijing.

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